Cultural Bond
by Uhura the 9th
Summary: A little snippet on cultural differences and understanding. Part 4 of Uhura's World Series


Cultural Bond

The Enterprise is on route to Vulcan, where the temperature is over 36 Celsius degrees. Commander Spock is in his quarters finishing his reports to Starfleet and the captain. Spock slowly starts rubbing his head like something is irritating it, he tries to continue working and again finds his hand stroking his head. Vulcanians are not known to have headaches, but he feels as tho something is pulling on it. After 15 minutes of useless work, Spock pulls out his ansoi pot to center himself. As he sits in the lotus position Spock attempts to meditate, he continues to feel the tug on his head again and the stress along with it. Then he focuses on the marriage bond and finds the source of the irritation, Spock attempts to reach his wife in their bond with no success. He becomes concern since she did not respond to his call, he gets up from the floor and put his pots away. Spock leaves their quarters to the two places his wife would be: her old quarters or Masters, he chose the latter. As he is walking to Master's quarters the pulling irritation would increase then ease up, Spock found this tense of his cranium irritating. He chimes Masters' door and Eve Brody answers.  
" Good evening Mr. Spock."

"Good evening Ms. Brody, is Ms. Uhura present?"

"Yes sir, come in."

When Spock walks in to his surprise, Masters is sitting in a chair, and his wife is on the floor between her legs. Her hair is all disarrayed, and Masters is doing some form pulling on her hair. Uhura looks up and sees her husband:  
"Spock? What's wrong?"

Spock looks with curiosity; his head tilts to one side trying to observe and analyze what he sees before him. Then one of his eyebrows lifts;  
"Fascinating." he steps closer for a better examination of his wife.

Nyota and Masters look at Spock and wondering what is he staring at.  
"Adun? what is wrong?"

"I was attempting to complete some reports in our quarters, and a constant pull on my cranium prevented me from completing the task. Then I attempt to locate the source of my irritation, and I ascertain that you were in some form of danger since you did not respond to our bond."

" OH? I'm sorry dar… Spock, I was in deep conversation, and I didn't raise my shield. Please forgive me for interrupting your work."

"As long as your safety is satisfactory, then it is no loss." Spock continues to stare at his wife's hair, and Masters notices it.

"Mr. Spock, are you wondering what I am doing?"

"Yes, Ms. Masters, I am… curious, please explain the purpose of your work?"

"I am braiding Ny's hair for Vulcan; she tells me the heat is extreme there."

"Yes, Vulcan atmosphere and high temperatures can be a strain to others who are not accustomed to its environment."

"Well, some species of Terrans have different types of hair, Ny's hair is thick and has tight curls, so braiding it will help her regulate her body temperature when she's there."

Spock continues to stare at the braiding; he sees Masters part his wife's hair with a comb and watching her fingers weave back and forth to form a row. He still feels a twinge on his own head, but not like before.  
"Ladies, may I sit to observe this course of action?"

The three women look at each other in shock and curiosity. Nyota speaks up: "Sure Spock, we don't mind, we are just conversing about… things."

Nyota has a padd in her hand, and she types in some information and hands it to her husband. Spock folds himself down to his lotus position and retrieves the padd. There he sees many different types of styles to braiding; from large to the very small.  
"Does this form of work put stress on your… cranium Nyota?"

"Yes, it does, the tighter the braids, the longer it will stay and not become loose, this style will last for 6 to 8 weeks without losing its shape. Plus it easier for me to style and wash when I am there on Vulcan."

"Interesting, the females of my species have different types of hair coiffures, but not such as this, and it is considered more of duty."

Master answers: "Mr. Spock it is a Terran tradition that women gather together in shops, bedrooms almost anywhere to do hair, make-up to form bonds."

"Yes, Spock it helps with stress and comradery" adds Eve.

Spock continues to observe Masters braid his wife hair into intricate rows and his wife is still conversing with the other two females. He looks down at the padd and scans more styles of braiding. Then he breaks into the ladies conversation:  
"I would like to learn this braiding."

The three women stop and stare at Spock, and they all said together: "Huh?"

Spock continues to observe the intricate work and felt it would enjoy their quiet time in braiding her hair as a way to accommodate his wife's needs. However, more to their intimate relationship for them.  
"I believe it would be a valuable asset to learn this technique if any of your companions are unavailable in the near future. Would that be acceptable for you Aduna?"

All three woman sigh and awe at the same time: "Oh wow, that is sooo.. romantic."

Masters and Brody gave Spock dreamy eyes, Nyota held up her two forefingers towards Spock. A man that is not ashamed of grooming his wife.

Spock hearing the two women sigh and became concern if he said something disrespectful. "Did I say something distressing Nyota?"

"No Adun, OK ladies come back from La la land from dreaming over my husband!"

They all laugh, and Spock gave a puzzled look at them, trying to figure out what led to the outburst of laughter.

"Excuse Mr. Spock can you show me the Vulcan females hairstyles?"  
Spock glances down, and types in the information and vids of Vulcan women appear on the padd. He stretches his long arms and Eve reaches for it. She glances over the different styles from the pixie to the high coiffures; she notes that the more sophisticated Vulcan women had their hair piled high. Then a brainstorm hit Eve:  
"Hey, maybe I can open a shop on Vulcan and braid their hairs like yours Nyota?"

Both of Spock's eyebrows raise,  
"That would be.. difficult Ms. Brody, Vulcan women are not as sociable as Terran women."

"Yeah, I would like to see you Eve trying to hold a conversation and braid trying to form a bond with Vulcan women," reply Masters.

"Well, it could happen, I'm not shooting it down." huffs Eve. "I can hold court or something and teach about female social bonding."

"You can give it a try, I'm game, maybe we can start by talking about their husbands?" smirk Uhura.

"You know what? I think Eve is on to something? It could build a bridge from all our differences. It just like Spock and you Nyota, you guys did it!" Masters hit a crucial point in building relations between cultures and people.

"Yes, you are right Char!" Nyota looks at her husband; they have overcome many differences from both of their worlds. She holds up her two forefingers and touches Spock, and share their thoughts over their bond. They had come along way in their differences in their marriage, and it wasn't easy.


End file.
